10 High Protein Singapore Hawker Meals

The typical Singaporean diet can be fairly carbohydrate focused. Think of all your favourite meals. Roti prata, thosai, mee goreng, noodle soups, fried rice, char kway teow, laksa, carrot cake, appam, and others. Some of these meals are meant to have a source of meat and fibre, but most stalls will have minimal amounts of these.

Not that there is anything particularly wrong about carbohydrates, but we really want to drive home the importance of balance. Balance means trying our best to nail all macro and micronutrients, plus the quantity. Sure half a plate of rice, with 2 small chicken wings and 1 tiny piece of cucumber has all the macros, technically speaking. But is that the balance we want to strive for in 80% of our meals? 

Take a look at My Healthy Plate. ½ a plate full of fruit and vegetables, ¼ plate lean, skinless, boneless protein and ¼ plate complex carbohydrates. Top it all off with some healthy fat in the form of unsaturated fat like olive oil, avocado oil, nuts and seeds. We would love for nothing more than to have an abundance of affordable, high protein low calorie food options. 

Health Promotion Board (HPB) has announced a worrying statistic - 1 in 2 older adults are not meeting their protein requirement. For adults, the Recommended Daily Intake (RDI) for protein is 0.8-1.2g per kg of bodyweight, and for adults above the age of 50, it is important to aim to hit the higher end of that range. For an adult weighing 80kg, that comes to 64g - 96g of protein everyday. 

What does 20g - 25g of protein look like in terms of food portion?

*Note: For vegetarian sources of protein, it’s usually easier to mix and match different protein sources to hit the protein goal. Otherwise we’d have to consume way too much of that one food item. 

Best High Protein Hawker Food

1. Nasi Ayam Panggang

The top winner on our healthier hawker food list will be Nasi Ayam Panggang, the healthier counterpart to Nasi Ayam Penyet. The main difference is panggang is grilled chicken while penyet usually means deep fried chicken. Making that one simple swap will reduce your trans fat and calorie intake drastically in this high protein meal. Nasi Ayam Panggang will consist of a grilled chicken thigh, which will give you a whopping 60g of protein. So skipped protein for breakfast? Fret not, you can make up for it in lunch and still win the race to hitting your protein goal for the day, without breaking your calorie bank.

2. Chicken Chop

Next up we have chicken chop! Another really high protein dish and to make this dish more calorie friendly, let’s do the following: remove chicken skin, add sauce/gravy on the side and add your favourite vegetable as a side dish. We hear carrots and peas pair really well. Instead of deep fried french fries, opt for boiled mash potato to slash another 150 calories and consider swapping out creamy coleslaw for plain salad without dressing, or dressing on the side to control its portion. If adding dressing to your salad will encourage you to eat more vegetables, then that dressing is a good inclusion in your diet.

3. Bibimbap

Our third dish is bibimbap, which usually comes with a source of meat (choose skinless options), a bunch of vegetables like carrot, leafy greens and rice. If you are able to swap out white rice for brown, if you can tolerate it, then go for it! Brown rice generally has more micronutrients than white rice and can increase HDL cholesterol. There is a tiny 1g extra fibre in brown rice, and for most people it will not have that much of an added impact so if your only purpose to eat brown rice is for its fibre content, please do not be miserable while you are at it. Note: This is general advice and does not apply to anyone with pre existing conditions such as diabetes. 

4. Mixed Rice Stalls

Most of our Indian/Malay/Chinese rice stalls usually have decent and delicious options. For Indian stalls - we can usually snag a portion of rice, 2 different coloured vegetables and fish, mutton or chicken curry for just under $7. If possible, order the curry on the side so that you can control the amount of gravy instead of soaking the rice with curry from the start. You can even add on a side of dal for a little extra spice, fibre and protein.

Malay stalls will have the option of steamed fish, either in the form of fish head curry or simply with herbs and garlic. Pair this with sayur lodeh or lontong with minimal coconut gravy and you have found one of the most comforting and nutrient dense meals at your local hawker centre. We normally avoid getting coconut gravy dishes as much as possible but if this meal is a part of your minority 20% then it will be the perfect nutritious meal to complement your regular diet.

The same goes for Chinese cai fan stalls where you will have an abundance of vegetables and protein options to choose from. Be sure to get non-fried options to control calorie and saturated fat intake.

5. Satay

For a lighter, more fun and social option - satay. Each satay stick can give you 2.5g - 3g of protein (beef will give us closer to 3g). 10 sticks will hit your protein goal for the meal (25-30g) for under 500 calories. Balance it out with a good chunk of salad on the side, crunchy carrot, cucumber, onion, asian cabbage, radish etc. Control the amount of satay sauce you dip in (hidden sodium and saturated fat).

6. Chicken Rice

We could not possibly forget about steamed chicken rice in our high protein hawker post. We always recommend adding another portion (or even 2) of skinless chicken to increase our protein content, and add our own tupperware of cucumber and radish to go with the meal. We avoid adding all the soup so we leave some of the sodium behind. If possible, swap out flavoured rice for plain white rice or mixed with brown rice to maximise benefits from both grains!

7. Vegetarian - Idli + Channa Masala (Chickpea Curry)

Vegans/vegetarians, you are not forgotten. Idli is essentially a rice cake, hailing from South Indian cuisine and is generally made from fermented lentils and rice. Channa masala, which is a chickpea curry, is a spicy curry dish made from potatoes, chickpeas and tomatoes. If it’s too spicy, bring a single serve of a high protein greek yogurt for added protein and tranquillity. A meal full of fibre, protein and taste? What could possibly go wrong?

8. Vegetarian - Thunder Tea Rice

Mixed grain rice if possible, topped with flavourful tofu (and eggs for vegetarians) and vegetables of choice. Sometimes we can even add chopped nuts for healthy unsaturated fat. Remember we want to be enjoying our meals as much as possible so if eggplants are not really your vibe, then swap them out for your favourite vegetable, or something you can mildly tolerate. Challenge yourself to have 2-3 different colours in there (green, red, orange, yellow, purple, white) to maximise health benefits (). This is another high quality, high protein dish for anyone looking for a post workout meal. Remember to add an extra serve of protein if the original quantity is not as per our suggestions above.

9. Bee Hoon

Apart from these decent options, how about healthy hawker breakfast? Keep your roti pratas and nasi lemak that are carbohydrate, fat and calorie heavy breakfast options for the once in a while treat, after you have balanced the rest of your diet with nutritious options. One high protein breakfast in Singapore is fried beehoon instead of mee goreng with 2-3 eggs (preferably boiled) and a side of spinach. You can even order a side of chicken breast curry to really increase the protein content.

10. Bonus: Drink options - Soya Milk

Taking a step away from meals, we wanted to quickly mention drinks since we are usually pairing our meals with sweetened beverages. Pair your meals with a serve of high protein low sugar soy milk instead of the usual teh tarik, bandung or iced Milo. Minimum calories for maximum protein. If purchasing non packaged drinks, always opt for lower sugar or sugar free ‘kosong’ options.

These are reasonable options for anyone looking for high protein hawker food without dangerously breaking the financial and calorie bank. A gentle reminder that we always encourage you to have more home cooked meals as we will be able to control the quantity and quality of our ingredients. Keeping your protein content high will keep you satiated for a longer duration, which will then prevent us from mindlessly overeating, among many other functions.

Before we end we would also like to give a quick disclaimer: these modifications to your high protein hawker foods should be a big part of your life and habits, but not the only way to be eating. Some of our meals will inadvertently be imperfect, perhaps a little too heavy on carbohydrates and fat, but as long as that remains in our minority 20%, we will be absolutely fine. Not everyone wants to be chomping on skinless chicken breast 3 times a day.  

We hope you have enjoyed our quick guide to high protein Singapore hawker meals. We tried to include a variety of healthy food in hawker centres that are easily available in your local shops that will continue to maintain your gains.

Before you go, do check out our previous blog “Making Healthier Food Choices at Nearby Hawker Centres”, which discusses even more options when eating out in Singapore. We also have a healthy Singaporean Meal downloadable kit here for you so you can try these tips out and practice healthy eating. It’s FREE!